An Abare Past
by The Threat
Summary: Abaranger .Going on where I left off with 'The Next Abare' and 'A New Abare Will Rise', this story will reveal a new secret.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Abaranger" is owned by Toei Company. The characters "Doyle" and "Roxton" are mine.

* * *

The day had started quiet, as did any other day. And despite Emiri's attempts to get some kind of activity going, with at least two more serious people in the house, and one quiet one, and with the absence of a certain family as they were gone out for a walk on their own, this was something that couldn't last, or even begin.

What no one expected, was that the one to cause a riot was Mai, immediately after coming back from school.

"Hey! Look what I found!" she cheered.

She had a folded sheet of paper in her hands, which she unfolded to show everyone. When everyone indeed looked at it, they all looked at it in awe.

"That's good news." Nakadai said.

"Where did you find this?" Yukito asked.

"At school!" Mai replied, still in her cheerful mood, "And everywhere else!"

"Really." Ryouga said, "You can find lots of these outside. Someone's really..."

"And we don't need to see it?" a voice called from outside the crowd.

Everyone was seated there where the chef of this house would be cooking his meals, whereas the one who spoke had put himself at a distance from them.

"Oh come on, Doyle!" Ryouga said, "If you wanna know what this is about, why don't you come here to look at this?"

"You're the one that's already standing." Doyle replied, "Should I have to stand up just to see... that?"

Ranru concurred with him: "He's right. Maybe you sh..."

"I tell you what." Ryouga said, interrupting whatever Ranru was about to say, "You come over here and I'll show you. But if you don't, you'll never..."

"What?!" Ranru interrupted him now.

"That's just mean, Ryou-chan!" Mai agreed.

"If he doesn't want to show you, it's probably not worth the trouble." Roxton told Doyle.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Doyle sighed.

Mai cried of anger: "Why are you doing this?"

Before Ryouga could say anything, Ranru had already taken the sheet of paper out of his hands.

"Hey!" Ryouga protested, but Ranru didn't listen to him.

"Here you are." she said, as she gave Doyle the sheet.

Doyle looked at it for a few seconds. It was a notice of somebody missing. Other than the number of somebody to contact, should this person be seen, there was a picture of the missing person in question. It was Doyle himself.

"It's you, Akakuro-kun." Ranru said, "So you do have a family out there."

Doyle didn't say a word. Although he did recognize himself on the picture, he didn't appear excited about hearing this news.

"Isn't that great!" Mai cheered on, "Finally, you'll find out more about yourself! You'll find your real parents and even know your name!"

Doyle still wasn't at all excited about this: "I don't know..."

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" Ryouga couldn't believe he's hearing this, "Don't you wanna know your past?"

"He's right." Roxton replied, "This just doesn't feel right."

"Doesn't feel right?!" Mai suddenly sounded enraged, "That's all you're gonna say?"

Doyle turned to look at her, so he could see how she ran to him and punched him in the belly, for she couldn't aim any higher. Luckily for Doyle, he's grown accustomed to pain of every kind, so this didn't hurt him at all.

Nevertheless, Ranru stopped Mai from trying to harm him any more: "Hey! What's that for?"

"He doesn't want to see his own parents!" Mai explained, "They are looking for him, and he doesn't want to see them! Why else would I be mad?!"

"You know, 'Doyle'..." Ryunnosuke was backing Mai up with this, "... you're really lucky to still have parents. Mai's have died a long time ago. She can't go and see them even if she wants to. You're just given the chance to find any possible living relative and you say 'I don't know'?"

"I think so too." Ryouga said.

"Roxton!" Mai turned to Doyle's Dino-minder, "Your family is dead too. You should understand!"

"I do." Roxton replied, "But, something just doesn't feel right about all this."

"I don't blame him." Yukito said, "He's must have been missing for months by now. Why do these notices appear now and not before?"

"Akakuro-kun." Ranru suddenly started, "You going to be quiet again?"

"You can't seem to let go of that, can you?" Doyle bit back.

"If you don't want to contact these people, then I will do it for you!" Mai exclaimed.

"This girl doesn't know when to stop shouting, does she?" Roxton said.

"Obviously not." Doyle agreed, after which he turned to the rest, "Can I just have a minute, by myself, about this?"

"Why would you..." Ryouga started.

"It may be best for him." Nakadai interrupted him.

"Thank you." Doyle said, after which he took his coat and left the house.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Doyle was outside, everybody turned to Nakadai.

"What did you just do?" Emeri asked him.

"Only giving him some time to think." Nakadai replied.

"What's to think about?"

"Whether he wants to know his past or not." Nakadai reasoned.

"Makes sense." Yukito agreed, "We all have things in our past that we'd rather not remember. He may be afraid for what he'll find out."

"Plus, how do you think he feels?" Nakadai added, "For a long time, he had no idea he had any living relative. By now he had grown accustomed to just that. Meeting with his family is like meeting with strangers to him now."

"You think that's why he's taken aback?" Ryouga asked.

Ranru turned to look at the door through which Doyle had left, and said: "That's understandable."

"How can you of all people say that?" Ryouga wondered, "He didn't particularly treat you quite well."

"I think this is something you will never understand." Nakadai replied.

Suddenly, Yatsudenwani came in: "What's all the noise about? Can't a man sleep in this house anymore?"

"We think we may have found Doyle's relatives." Yukito explained.

"That's great!" Yatsudenwani sounded happy, "He will leave us soon then?"

"How dare you to say such a thing?" Ranru snapped at him.

Realizing he made her angry, Yatsudenwani became really nervous: "I'm sorry, Ranru-sama! I didn't mean to say anything bad! I..."

He kept raving on like this for a while, until he finally admitted: "... and he scares me to death!"

"He's not scary." Mai insisted, "A little dumb, maybe, but not scary."

"Now, Mai-chan, it's not polite to call people dumb." Ryouga said.

"Where is he now anyway?" Yatsudewani asked.

"He's afraid to meet with his relatives." Yukito answered, "So we left him to think about it."

Yatsudewani whined: "Oooh... if only you people could get to know them better before letting him meet them..."

"That's it!" Ranru suddenly figured, and continued once she had everyone's attention, "Why won't we go meet with his family now? This way, when we know them, we tell Akakuro-kun about them, so he will have no reason to be afraid anymore."

"Sounds like a great idea." Ryouga agreed.

"If it could help him, we should do it." Yukito said.

Meanwhile, Doyle was having a conversation of his own with Roxton. They were to be found close to the harbor, where they both believed that not many people would see them, nor would hear them talk. They figured it would look weird if they see a man talking to a wristband that has a mouth. Also, in here there may not be anyone who would recognize his face.

"Do you really believe they want us gone?" Roxton asked.

"Why else would that Mai-girl be so happy?" Doyle reasoned.

"Because she could help you? Maybe?" Roxton replied.

Doyle sighed: "Then what about the way she insisted us to go? Or ho anyone else insisted?"

"I don't know." Roxton answered, "I know very little about how humans think."

"Wish I knew how Ranru really thinks." Doyle whispered.

"Why?"

"I don't know." Doyle moaned, "There's something about her that makes want to know."

"She is the only one who seems to understand you." Roxton remarked, "Which can't be said about everyone else. That Nakadai-character even appears to be the only one trying."

"I'm not sure we did the right thing to start making friends with Ranru." Doyle said, "Being a friend of hers means to be friends with her gang."

"And you don't feel comfortable with the gang, do you?"

"Do you?" Doyle asked.

"I don't know." Roxton replied, "Being stuck with you has helped me getting used to human presence. What's one more or less?"

"It means a whole lot." Doyle answered, "It was a hard decision to make when I decided to make friends with Ranru. Especially since the only form of human company I've known is that of a mad man."

"And Ranru wasn't in any like him, was he?"

"No." Doyle replied, "She seemed like a nice person to know and easy to handle. But then all of her friends came along. Getting to know one of them at a time, in time maybe even two at a time. But all eleven at once? Then they feel I must meet with people who may claim to know me better than I even know myself... This is just too much for me to bear."

"Those people have never been through even half of what we're going through, have they?"

"No." Doyle sounded tense when he said this, "How could they even begin to think they understand me? Or even think they know what's best for me?"

"And why is all this about you?" Roxton suddenly started, "You're not alone on this world!"

Doyle snorted: "Another thing! Only when it fits best in the situation, they stop pretending you don't exist. They'd do everything to help me, and forget that you are a part of me."

"Indeed." Roxton agreed, "Glad you noticed."

For a moment it was quiet between the two. Then Roxton talked again: "So what do you wanna do now?"

"Obviously we can't return to their place now. Or else they'd start all over again."

"But you can't stay away from them either." Roxton reminded him.

"Maybe." was all Doyle said.


	3. Chapter 3

Somewhere in Japan, a phone rang. Somebody answered it: "Yes?"

"Is this Sugimura?" the voice from the other side asked.

"Yes." that somebody replied.

The voice, whom belonged to Ryouga, cheered: "You're the one looking for somebody missing?"

That somebody hesitated: "... Yes, my son... he..."

Ryouga heard how that person felt. Even Yatsudewani, through whom Ryouga was calling, could feel it: "He sure sounds sad."

"I got great news for you. We found him!" Ryouga said.

That's when there was a silence. Ryouga looked at the receiver, almost as if expecting to see the person he spoke to through the horn. After a while, a woman came to the phone.

"Is it true?" the woman asked, "You found our Shogo?"

"Er... Shogo? Is that his name?" Ryouga asked.

The woman sounded like she didn't understand: "What do you mean, is that his name? He never told you?"

"He has amnesia. He doesn't know anything about himself." Ryouga explained, "He might not even recognize you if he saw you."

There was a weird sound that came from the receiver. It sounded like the woman was saying a dew indistinct words, but more clearly she was crying.

"What's going on?" Yukito asked.

"They're not happy to hear the news?" Emiri added.

"I think they just need some time to let this sink in." Ryouga explained, "What parent would like to hear that their own child may not recognize them."

That's when the man spoke again: "You'll have to excuse us, it's... it's really..."

"Oh, forget it." Ryouga replied, "It's only natural."

"Can we see him?" the man asked.

"Er... that may be a problem." Ryouga replied.

"What do you mean?" the man didn't sound at all pleased, "Do you know where he is or don't you?!"

"Well... it's complicated..." was all Ryouga managed to say, as the man started to curse a few things at him.

"Not easy to do the right thing." Ryouga sighed.

Ranru took the phone from Ryouga's hands: "Let me try it... Hello?"

The man on the other side sounded like he calmed down: "Who is this?"

"I'm a friend of Aka... Shogo's." Ranru replied, "Look, he's just a little confused about a lot of things. It may be best for him if we meet with you first before let him meet you."

The man mumbled something, but the volume of his voice suggested that he really spoke to his wife, who sounded a little angry, as she started to speak through the receiver herself: "You're keeping our son from seeing his own parents?"

"No!" Ranru exclaimed, "We're just... well... He just needs some time first. This news was as big to him as it is to you."

The two parents sounded like they were discussing this. Suddenly, the woman spoke again: "You sound like an honest woman. Shogo is lucky to have a girlfriend like you."

"... Oh... We... we're not..." Ranru appeared to blush at that moment.

"When can we meet?" the woman asked.


	4. Chapter 4

While this was going on, Doyle had made his way back into the streets. Luckily for him, though his appearance stuck out of the crowd, his face was obscured, as it usually was, in such a way nobody would recognize him from the pictures he found hanging everywhere he went. His relatives must be very desperate to find him, so he thought to himself. Suddenly, he saw somebody who did recognize him. He saw a little girl staring at him.

Annoyed, Doyle called to her: "What are you looking at?"

The girl got freaked out and ran to her parents. She found her father first, who immediately turned to face Doyle. It was Asuka.

"What do you think you're doing?" Asuka asked him, "Scaring my daughter like that?"

"Would you like it if people kept staring at you?" Doyle reasoned.

"Well, forgive me, but you're not doing anything to keep yourself from being noticed."

Doyle sighed through his nose. Before either one of them could say another word, Mahoro cut in: "What is all this?"

She was referring to one of the notices that had Doyle's picture on it. Best thing Doyle could say, however was: "You two gonna rub this in too?"

"Why are these things out here, everywhere we go?" Mahoro asked.

"Is anyone going to answer a question today?" Roxton remarked.

Doyle sneered at the remark, but he replied: "Apparently, someone's looking for me."

"No, that's not what I mean." Mahoro added, "I mean, you said you died, right?"

"Could be, I don't remember all the details."

"But if you were, the first ones to know would be your family." Mahoro explained, "So why would they be looking for you?"

Doyle hadn't thought of that before: "Maybe I didn't dead at all. How should I know?"

"Tou-san!" Asuka's daughter, Mikoto, called at him, pointing to the photo on the notice, "They look just like Doyle and Roxton here."

"I know." Asuka replied, "It's called a photograph..."

"Wait, what did she say?" Mahoro asked.

"Didn't she just say 'look like Doyle AND Roxton'?" Roxton asked.

Mahoro looked at the picture more carefully, then said: "This... this is not possible."

Doyle became curious as well: "Let me see this."

He took the picture out of her hands and looked more closely as well. Looking more closely at his own left wrist on the picture, he noticed that he was wearing his Dino-brace on it already. This made him realize something.

"We weren't 'we' before I... died, were we?" Doyle wondered.

"I don't think so." Roxton replied.

"But..." Asuka realized this too, "That must mean that that photograph was made after you two became what you are now, not before."

"That must mean..." Mahoro started.

"Hammond!" both Doyle and Roxton exclaimed.

"This whole thing is a set-up!" Asuka added.

"What's a set-up?" Mikoto asked.

"But wait a minute..." Roxton interrupted, "... if this is a trap, and with everyone eager to see... to see you-know-who."

"We must get back and warn everyone!" Doyle stated, "Let's go!"

As he took off, the Dino-Earth family followed him.


	5. Chapter 5

Meanwhile, however, the gang had already arrived at the address. On the outside it looked like any other house you could find in Japan.

"If they live in a house like this, they mustn't be too rich." Nakadai remarked.

"What do you mean by that?" Ryouga asked.

"I'm just saying." Nakadai replied, "Should Doyle want to see them, he might have expected something different."

"But you do bring up an excellent point." Yukito said, "If they aren't that rich, they must've spend their entire fortune to try and find their son, given those many copies you find of those missing-notices."

"A parents love can bring them so far..." Ryouga stated.

"Maybe." Yukito still doubted, "But if all their money is spend, then what home is there for their son to go to?"

"Will you three knock it off!" Ranru intervened, "We're trying to help someone here, and here you guys are debating over his parents wealth!"

Nakadai laughed: "Right, we wouldn't want to insult your abductor's family do we?"

"Will you ever let go of that?" Ryouga wondered.

Ranru answered Nakadai by saying: "If it makes you feel any better, I don't see him as..."

"Then what is he to you exactly?" Nakadai couldn't stop laughing.

"What this ruckus about?!" somebody shouted through the front door of the house they were at.

All four of them looked into that direction, when Ryouga decided to say: "Sugimura-san?"

The man in the doorway looked up: "You're the one who called?"

"Yes, we are." Ryouga replied, "I'm Ryouga, this is Yukito, that's Ranru, and this is Nakadai-sensei."

"Sensei?" the man sounded surprised, though relieved, "M... our son fell in the right hands then."

"Yes, he sure has." Ryouga replied, "Can we come in now?"

"Of course." the man, Sugimura-san, replied as he lead them in.

Though, out of all four, only Nakadai hesitated. Ranru noticed: "What's the matter?"

"I don't know." Nakadai answered, "There's something familiar about that man. I just can't..."

"Maybe he just reminds you a little of Akakuro-kun... Shogo." Ranru tried to explain.

"Maybe." Nakadai replied.

Suddenly, there was another voice, that called: "Ranru! Can you hear me?"

Ranru, naturally, recognized the voice, coming from her Dino-brace: "I'm here. What is it... Shogo?"

Back at the Dino-house, from which Doyle was calling her, Doyle looked up at the sound of that name.

"That's what they said your real name is." Emiri explained.

Doyle shook it off, then continued: "Ranru, listen to me. These people are not who you think they are!"

"Are they really?" Ranru replied, "Or are you just afraid to meet them?"

"I'm afraid for you to meet them." Doyle replied.

"Look, put this every which way you like, but I'm going to help you no matter what. You understand?"

That's when Doyle couldn't hear her reply to him any more: "Ranru? Ranru?!"

Asuka had a different perspective at this: "Why exactly did you call Ranru, of all people?"

Doyle looked at Asuka, with a matter-of-fact expression: "If Mahoro were among them, wouldn't she be the first you'd be calling?"

"Yes." Asuka replied, "But that's because she's... are you saying that...?"

"Can you seem them with your computer?" Mahoro asked Emiri.

"Let's find out." she replied, as she pulled on the secret key that changed the entire room into a sort of high-tech base. With this, they tried to see the other four at the house. They only just managed to see them enter the house, on one of their screens.

"Can you look inside?" Ryunnosuke asked her.

Emiri pressed a few buttons... more than once, but nothing happened: "No, I can't."

"They must have found a way to block everything." Mahoro decided.

Doyle, however, suddenly had something else in mind: "Er... where does this come from?"

"Doesn't matter!" Asuka said, "We now know for sure they're in trouble!"

"We can ask them that later." Roxton told Doyle.

"You're right." he whispered in reply, "Better get going!"


	6. Chapter 6

Completely unaware of what danger they're walking into, the gang of four walked into the house, where they're being lead into the living room, where they could meet the mother.

When the four of them are in the middle of the room, with the man of the house at the exit and the woman on the other side, the man decided to say: "So... where's Al?"

All four of them looked up.

"Al?" Ryouga could not understand, "How do you know that name?"

Only Yukito fully understood: "You're... you're not his real father!"

Suddenly, something wrapped itself around the four of them. When they turned to look where that came from, they saw that the woman's arms had turned into four tentacles, each of which have attached themselves one of them.

"Couldn't have planned this better myself!" the man said, as a small flash of came on and off, which had changed the man back into who he really is. Someone that our heroes recognized only too well.

"Hammond!?" particularly Ranru wasn't happy about this.

"Fools!" Hammond said, as he changed into his black armor, "Al's parents have died long ago. He was an orphan before I turned him into what he is now. Do you really think I'd use someone whom people will be looking for?"

"You... son of a..." Ryouga tried to say, but the tentacle that held him started to squeeze harder.

The woman, who had turned into her real form, some kind of mixture between an octopus, a sea-plant and a sub-marine.

"I thought we were supposed to get that kid of yours." the monster said.

"That was the idea, Octosubbie." Hammond said, "But having them as hostages will help too."

"I don't think so." Nakadai said, as he had reached for his Dino-Minder, "Bakuryuu Change!"

He changed into Abarekiller, which helped him to be strong enough to get out of the clutches of this octopus. With his sword, he helped the other three to get out as well. Octosubbie let go of them in agony, which allowed them to transform as well.

"Bakuryuu Change!" they all shouted.

"That won't help you one bit." Hammond said.

Given that the Abarangers took there time to transform, Octosubbie had enough time to recover. She grabbed the four of them again, and with them she jumped out of the house, where there's a lot more space for them to fight.

"Er... how did you do that?" a familiar voice asked, after which everyone turned to look at who spoke.

"Akakuro-kun!" Abareyellow exclaimed.

"So you did come, Al." Hammond said, "No, wait! You prefer Doyle, right?"

"Either way..." Doyle replied, "You have no right to say my name in any shape or form."

He pressed the appropriate buttons on his Dino-brace, transforming him into Abaredevil.

Asuka, on the other hand, had to insert a key, as he shouted: "Bakuryuu Change!"

As he was transforming, Abaredevil wondered: "What the...? Why do you always say that?"

Before he could get an answer, Hammond had jumped at Abaredevil, saying: "You're coming back to me."

"Who are you talking to." Roxton asked, "Us, or just him?"

Before Hammond could answer, Abaredevil punched Hammond on the head.

Meanwhile, Abareblack had joined the other four in the battle, and freed them from the octopus.

"What about him?" Abareyellow asked.

"I'm pretty sure he can take care of himself." Abared said, "Let's take care of this soup-fish first."

"What are you people gonna do?!" Octosubbie laughed.

Abared: "Bursting with energy... Abared!"

Abareblue: "Exploding seriously... Abareblue!"

Abareyellow: "Courageous demolition... Abareyellow!"

Abareblack: "The invincible spirit of the Dragon-people... Abareblack!"

Abarekiller: "With white palpitation... Abarekiller!"

Abared: "The fierce Abare courage!"

All together: "Bakuryuu Sentai! Abaranger!"

Once they were done with their pose, they attacked their opponent. After a long battle, they used the combination of their weapons to defeat it.

Though Abaredevil was winning his fight with Hammond, the latter could still see it when his creation was defeated. Pretending to be beaten down, he took something from out of his suit and pressed a button. A blinding light came from somewhere out of the sky, which brought Octosubbie back together, but in a much bigger form.

Suddenly, completely to Hammond's surprise, Abaredevil kicked the device he just used out of his hands.

"Wha... How did you know...?"

"Dumbass!" Abaredevil exclaimed, "You really think that I didn't know about that thing? Never thought you'd actually use it though."

He ran to where he kicked the device, and destroyed it.

"NO!!!" Hammond shouted, "You realize what you've just done?"

"More than you think!" Abaredevil replied.

"You'll pay for that!" Hammond said, as he tried to get up, "I won't let you get away with what you've done to me!"

He disappeared after he said this, after which Roxton said: "He really doesn't see what he does wrong, does he!?"


	7. Chapter 7

With Octosubbie having turned into a giant, the Abarangers had no other options left to consider.

"Brachio! We need your help!" Abareblack shouted to his Blastdragon.

"Let's burn so we can change the future." Brachio said as he arrived at the scene.

Once he stood still, all the needed Blastdragons left him: Tyranno, Kera, Ptera and Stego.

"Finally, you need again, human." Top Galer said, as he too arrived at the scene.

All the Abarangers, who could, merged themselves with their respective Blastdragon, and the Blastdragons combined into the two giants.

"Complete! AbaranOh!" the three Abarangers exclaimed once the combination was complete.

"Combined, KillerOh." Abarekiller exclaimed when his giant was completed.

"Wanna play games?" Octosubbie asked them.

She used her four tentacles again, two for each giant. Once they had a hold of the giants, they started swinging them about, bouncing them on the ground, and even squeezing them until they'd explode.

"At this rate, we'll lose!" Abared said.

"AbarenOh won't hold much longer!" Abareblue added.

"We'll help you!" the voice of Dime sounded.

"Don't worry, Senior!" Baki added.

Once these two, along with the other two Blastdragons, appeared, Octosubbie used the two giants as baseball-bats to knock them away.

"Why won't you call on Styraco?!" Abarekiller wondered.

"My shield is broken, I can't call on him now!" Abared replied.

"Akakuro-kun..." Ranru cried.

The other two saw this happening. Abareblack couldn't believe that Abaredevil did not change into his Blastdragon-form: "Why aren't you helping them?"

"I don't need to." Abaredevil answered, "But you can help them yourself."

"How?" Abareblack was puzzled.

"Notice how that monster pays no attention to Brachio?" Abaredevil explained.

Noticing this himself, Abareblack knew what to do: "Brachio, you help them!"

Though Brachio is a pacifist, he approached Octosubbie. With the red ray of light he could shoot from his mouth, he shot at the monster's tentacles. Not only did those get severed from the monster, they also let go of the two giants.

"All right!" Abared cheered, "Let's finish her off!"

In unison, they shouted, as AbarenOh did his attack: "Dengeki Drill Spin!"

With this, Octosubbie fell down, blew up, and was gone forever.

"No more messing with a lost child now!" Abared said


	8. Chapter 8

Back at the Dino-house, particularly Mai wasn't happy about how things turned out.

"Come on, Mai-chan." Ryouga tried to comfort her, "It's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" she cried, "If I hadn't found this, you and everyone else wouldn't have been in trouble."

"You couldn't have known this would happen." Ryouga tried to convince her, "Such things just happen."

"In the normal world anyway." Yukito remarked.

"You're a lot of help." Ryouga complained.

"Then look at it this way." Nakadai started, "Had we not been there, somebody else may have gotten hurt instead. You should be happy we got there."

This seemed to change something about Mai, but not entirely: "I... if Doyle-sama would forgive me for this, I..."

"Doyle-sama?" Ryouga sounded surprised to hear her call him that.

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Yukito asked.

"Is he gonna take off without telling us anything now?" Ryouga wondered.

"Maybe we shouldn't have been so pushy." Ranru whined.

"He has found a family here, but they appeared eager to rid themselves of him." Ryunnosuke figured, "On top of that, he only just found out that his real family is dead. Give him some time and I'm sure he'll come around."

What neither one of them knew, was that Doyle was on the Dino-house's roof. Like he did earlier that day, he was in conversation with Roxton.

"Don't you think this is plain insulting?" Doyle asked, "That they wouldn't wait for me to make my decision?"

"Think of it this way." Roxton suggested, "They want to know you, and thought that your family could provide you with answers."

"But all we found out is that my family is dead." Doyle said.

"But at least they tried something." Roxton reasoned, "A real friend would do that, or at least that's what I think."

"With no memories of our past, we can't know anything for sure." Doyle remarked.

"Be that as it may..." Roxton replied, "... we can't blame them for trying anything. Especially not Ranru."

Upon hearing her name, Doyle agreed: "No. Let's blame Hammond for trying to capture us."

"Or even Mai." Roxton added, "She's just a young human child. She does not yet fully comprehend how the world works."

"I suppose not." Doyle agreed to this as well, "But with them going with the first clue they find, without paying close attention to details first, or even ask me if I want to see my family first... it's all just..."

"I know." Roxton replied, "But if it weren't for them, where would we be now?"

Doyle thought about this: "I don't know. We'd probably be whatever we were before this."

"Dead?" Roxton asked.

"Yes."

"And that would have been better?"

Doyle sighed: "I don't know. We were made the way we were for a reason, but now that were free from Hammond, what's our purpose to this world now?"

Roxton had no answer to this at all, nor did Doyle expected to hear one either.

**THE END**


End file.
